Gage and butt-cutter for cigars.



Patented Aug. l2, I902. w. HEFFLEY.

GAGE AND BUTT CUTTER FOR CIGARS.

(Application filed May 28, 1902.)

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- (No Model.)

WITNESSES.

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THE "cams Pzrzas no. wnoruumou wnsmnc'rou. n cy WILLIAM HEFFLEY, OF JACKSON TOWNSHIP, LEBANON COUNTY, PENNSYL- VANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY R. MILLER, OF ROBESONIA,

PENNSYLVANIA.

GAGE AND BUTT-CUTTER FOR CIGARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 706,936, dated August 12, 1902. Application filed May 28, 1902. Serial No. 109,360. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern-.-

Be it knownthat I, WILLIAM HEFFLEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Jackson township, in the county of Lebanon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Gage and Butt-Cutter for Cigars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to means for gaging IO the length and clipping the butts of cigars as they are being manufactured, and has for its object to provide a device of the indicated character of novel simple construction, compact form, and very convenient in operation,

I 5 affording a portable implement that may be set to cut off the butts of cigars at a-desired length as a finishing operation in their manufacture.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and defined in the appended claims. l

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,

in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is an end view of the device seen in direction of the arrow 0; in Fig. 3, showing the cutting blades in opened adjustment.

Fig. 2 is a like View, but representing the cutting-knives closed as they appear after a cigar has been-cut to length .by the implement. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view, substantially on the line 3 3 in Fig. l; and

Fig. 4c is a plan View of the improvement.

A preferably rectangular block 5 of wood or other available material is provided as a supporting-body for other features of the invention and is parallel at its top and bottom.

At a suitable point intermediate the side edges of the block 5 a concave groove a of proper width and depth is longitudinally formed therein, said channel indenting the upper face of the block, as best shown in Fig.

1, and along one side edge of the channel a a graduated scale indicating inches and fractional parts thereof is formed or secured, as shown at b in Fig. 4..

Upon one end of the block 5 aface-plate 6 is mounted and secured by the bolt 7, that has a coniform head 0, which seats in a corresponding perforation in the plate 6, the bolt extending through a longitudinal perforation in the block 5 and sufiiciently beyond the end thereof opposite that whereon the face-plate is seated to receive a washer d and a nut 7, the latter screwing upon the threaded projecting end of the bolt, as indicated. in Figs. 3 and 4. The face-plate 6 may with advantage. be of rectangular form and equal in area to that of the end of the block 5, whereon it is held, and opposite the channel a. the upper edge of the face-plate is notched to conform with said channel, and thus afford a free passage therethrough.

Upon the upper and lower edges of the faceplate 6 substantially U-shaped guide-strips 8 8 are secured, which overhang the outer face of the plate 6 and with it, form similar guide-grooves for the accommodation of the cutting-blades 9 10. The cutting-blades 9 10 are preferably formed of plate metal having equal thickness, and the blade 9, that has sliding contact upon the face-plate 6, may have a similar peripheral form and nearly 7 5 equal area to that of said plate, as indicated in Fig. 1.

The upper guide-strip Sis cut away opposite the notch in the face-plate 6, and a of the cutting-blade 9 is removed from the upper edge thereof, extending from the righthand end toward and beneath the notch or in the face-plate 6 when the parts are assembled, as will be further mentioned.

The defining upper edge a of the cuttingblade 9 where it is reduced in width is parallel with the lower edge of the same, and said upper edge a at its left-hand end merges into the lower termination of the V-shaped notch e, formed in the upright shoulder, 0 which extends from the edge a to the remaining portion of the upper edge of the cuttingblade 9, that defines its greatest width. The V-shaped notch e is beveled on the edge at the side which loosely contacts with the faceplate 6, so as to sharpen said edge, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

An L-shaped guide-strip 11 is secured upon.

the cutting-blade 9, so as to provide a channel along the upper edge of said guide-strip parallel with the edge a on the cuttingblade 9.

The cuttingblade 10 is parallel on its upper and lower edges, and the lower edge thereof is held to slide in the guide-strip 11, while the upper edge is loosely engaged within the channel afiorded by the right-hand portion of the top guide-strip 8. The end of the cutting-blade 10 nearest the notched edge e on the cutting-blade 9 is similarly notched to give it a V-shaped cutting edge e, to sharpen which the outer corner thereof is removed by the formation of a bevel surface, thereby disposing the sharp edge of the cutting-blade 10 adjacent to the sharp edge of the cuttingblade 9, so as to render said cutting-blades effective in shear-cutting the ends of cigars that may be operated upon by them.

A f ulcrum-stud 12 is secured at one end upon the face-plate 6,so as to project outward therefrom, said stud passing through a slot g, formed longitudinally in the cuttingfblade 9 below and near the lower edge of the cuttingblade 10, this slot appearing in Figs. 1 and 2. A rock-arm 13 is provided, having a longitudinally-ceutral perforation therein to permit said rock-arm to be mounted upon the stud 12. The ends of the rock-arm 13 are respectively pivoted upon one end of two similar link-bars 14, the opposite ends of the linkbars being pivoted upon the cutting-blades 9 10 at points which dispose the link-bars parallel with each other and extended toward the channel a in the body-block 5.

A handle-lever 15 is loosely secured by one end upon the outer end of the fulcrum-stud 12, and said lever is firmly attached upon the adjacent side of the rock-arm 13, so that a rocking movement'of the handle-lever will correspondingly rock the arm 13.

A bowed plate-spring 16 is secured at one end upon a side edge portion of the block 5, the free end of the spring projecting toward the face-plate 6 and the cutting-blade 9 held to slide thereon, said free end of the spring 16 bearing upon the end of the cutting-blade 9 nearest to the stud 12, so as to press said cutting-blade endwise and normally dispose the V-shaped cutting edge 6 thereof away from the similar edge e of the cutting-blade 10, as indicated in Fig. 1.

It will be seen that the longitudinal sliding movement of the spring-pressed cutting-blade 9 is permitted by traverse of the stud 12 .in the slot g, and, furthermore, that by means of the link-bars 14: the cutting-blade 10 is caused to slide oppositely from the direction of sliding movement had by the cutting-blade 9, so that the V-shaped cutting edges 6 e are normally separated for the free introduction of the butt-end of a cigar between them.

Preferably the handle-lever 15 is bent into substantially S form and at the free end terminates in a knob 15*, said end of the-handle- =lever being normally elevated, as represented in Figs. 1 and'2, by pressure of the spring 16.

A gage-bar 17 is a feature of the improvement, and consists of a strip of metal or other suitable material having a hook it formed on one end and an arm 17 bent at aright angle to the main portion of the gage-bar, at its opposite end, said arm being extended in the same direction as the hook h; In the arm 17 a tapped perforation is formed for the reception of the threaded body of athumb-screw 18.

At a suitable point between the ends of the gage-bar 17 an abutment iis formed thereon, which may be circular on its edge, and said abutment is designed to seat edgewise in the channel a when the gage-bar is in position for service.

In arranging the implement for use the gage-bar is disposed transversely on the block 5 and is held at any point by means of the thumb-screw 18, which by adjustment will draw the hook it into frictional engagement with the block 5, and thus prevent an accidental displacement of the gage-bar, which will by proper disposal, determined by the scale I), afford a convenient means for gaging the length of cigars, that when in process of manufacture or after they are rolled may be cut 0E to a proper length by placing each cigar consecutively in the channel a with the butt-end between the cutting edges e e" and then depressing the lever 15 by pressure on the knob 15.

It will be seen that the oppositely-arranged V-shaped cutting edges when pressed toward each other shear-cut the end of the cigar toward its center, so that the edge of the cigarbutt is smooth and the end is cut square across, thus affording a neat finish to the product.

Having described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A cigar-butt cutter, comprising a bodyblock having a channel in its upper face, a gage-bar crossing said channel, two cuttingblades, one blade having a guide thereon to slidably support the other blade, a spring pressing upon one cutting-blade for separating the cutting edges of both blades, a rockable handle-lever, a rock-arm on the lever, and two link-bars pivoted at their ends on the rock-arm and cutting-blades for their reciprocal movement toward each other.

2. A cigar-butt cutter, comprising a bodyblock, a face-plate held at one end of the body-block, a gage-bar adj ustably held upon the body-block, two cutting-blades, each having a V-shaped notch adapted to form an angular cutting edge, guides on the face-plate wherein one cutting-blade is held to slide, means for slidably supporting the other cutting-blade so that it may be reciprocated on the first-mentioned cutting-blade, a fulcrumstud projected from the face-plate through a slot in one of the cutting-blades, a connected rook-arm and handle-lever held to rock on the fulcrum-stud, two link-bars pivoted upon the ends of the rock-arm and respectively upon the cutting-blades, and a spring adapted to In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

- WILLIAM I-IEFFLEY. Witnesses: i

normally press the cutting edges of the blades 1 HOMER L. LANDIs, apart. l

ANGIE WEAVER. 

